Holdback for vehicles



(No Model.)

B. WALRATH.

HOLDBAUK FOR VEHICLES.

N0. 387,935. Patented Aug. 14, 1888.

INVENTOR WITNESSES.

N. PETERS, Phnroljlbegrlphur. v'vnhin m. 0.x;

UNITED STATES Parent @rrione EDlVARD \VALRATH, OF LA FARGEVILLE, NElV YORK.

HOLDBACK FOR VEi-HCLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 387,935, dated August 14, 1888.

Annlicationfiled November 35. 1887. Serial No.25lh103.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, EDWARD WALRATH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of La Fargeville, in the county of Jefferson and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful I inprovenientsin Safety Holdback- Catches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referenceheing had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which Figure '1 is a side view showing a horse harnessed between the shafts of a vehicle which is provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of my new and improved safety holdbackcatch. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through one of the shafts and the catch, and Fig. 4 is a perspective detail view of the safety-catch.

The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention. consists in anew and improved safety holdback device or Cll1Cll,WhlGll will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Referring to the several parts by letter, A A indicate the shafts of a vehicle to which my invention is shown as applied, and B B indicate the side straps or brecching-straps of the harness.

My invention consists of a wide oval ring, 0, slightly flattened on its lower side, and a slid iug wedge plate, D, having an upwardly-projecting tongue, I l, near its forward thickest end, as hereinafter described. The oval rings are secured on the shafts of a vehicle, one on each shaft, at the point where the leather loop is usually secured to the shafts in the old style heretofore employed, at the point where the side or breechiug strap is wound around the thill or shaft. The rings are secured in position upon the shafts by the two screws F F passing through the upper part of each ring. Owing to the oval shape of the rings, the lower flattened end of each ring projects down be low the shaft, leaving an open space between the lower end of the rings and the under side of the shafts. Each of the plates D D is formed with the wide rear end, I, forming shoulders J J,which serve to prevent the plate from being No model.)

drawn out forward from the ring C, entirely out of the ring. This wide rear end,which is only about one-half the thickness of the forward end of the plate, is curved down and outwardly. By thus curving this rear end of the plate its forward end is permitted to swing down to permit the strap to be easilyinserted through the ring between the plate and the under side of the shaft, and also to enable the strap to be readily drawn out of the catch by a forward pull. This curved rear end will also serve asa convenient thumbpiece in handlin the plate.

The extremity of each front end of the plate is curved down and outward, to enable the end of the strap to be conveniently introduced in between the plate and the shaft.

The under side of the shaft is preferably formed with a longitudinal groove or recess, L,with which the tongue of the plate registers and in which the said tongue fits and slides.

In operation the end of the side or breeching strap, B, is brought down forward around the outside of the thill or shaft, and the end of the strap is then hentback and passed into the catch from the front, being inserted between the plate and the under side of the shaft, until it has been drawn through the ring for the required distance to tighten the strap. Vhen the strap is tightened to the desired point, the upwardly-extending tongue E is inserted in the proper hole of the strap; and it will be seen that the straps have been thus run through the catches on the shafts, which can be done in a moment, and that the back ward pull of the side or breeching straps will draw the plates D D backward through the riugsCC. As the wedge shaped plates are thus drawn back through the rings by the pull of the straps, it will be seen that the ends of the straps will be firmly wedged and held between the thickening front ends of the plates and the under sides of the shafts, and the tongues K of the plates will also hold the straps and prevent them from slipping as long as the strain or pull is back ward, the ends of the tongues K fitting up in the grooves L L in the under side of the shafts when the plates are in a horizontal position.

If the horse should, through carelessness or accident,start to leave the shafts or thills while partly unhitched after the traces have been unfastened, he will of course draw the side or breeching straps forward, and this forward pull on the'said straps will pull the sliding wedge-shaped plates forward until their thin ends reach the ring and their thick front ends swing downward, when the straps will be at once freed from the catches and the horse will be cleared from the thills without any danger of breakage or other damage.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction, operation, and advantages of my invention will be readily understood. It will be seen that by the use of my invention a much shorter side or breeching strap can be employed, and that the said straps can be attached to the thills in a few moments, saving much time over the old method of winding the straps around the thills; also, while the backward pull will hold the straps firmly locked in position in the catches, a forward pull will at once free the horse, and thus prevent any accident or breakage, as above described.

by the screws and the sliding wedge-plate hav- 3 5 ing the upwardly-projecting tongue near its forward thick end and the wide outwardlycurved rear end, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claimthe foregoing as my own I have hereunto affixed my signature in 0 presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD WALRATH.

Witnesses:

LUOIEN S. STROUGH, ELIJAH BEcKwITH. 

